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The TOEIC® tests assess language skills that are used in daily life and in the workplace. Test takers speak and write in English their repsonses to real-world questions and scenarios. The tests use common everyday phrases, key expressions and vocabulary.

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Tests Directory > TOEIC® - Test of English for International Communication
TOEIC® Listening and Reading Test:Test Takers

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Tests Directory > TOEIC® - Test of English for International Communication
The Redesigned TOEIC® Listening and Reading Test

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The Three Minute Speeches

Level : Intermediate up
Lesson Aims : To give students confidence to speak without prompts for 1-3 minutes
Activity Time : 30 minutes depending on class size and student ability
Preparation Time : None
Resources : Topics

The aim of this exercise is for students to deliver a speech in front of the class using notes (if necessary) and not reading directly from an essay. Each student is to prepare a 1-3 minute speech following the steps outlined below.

Procedure

1. Students should choose a Statement from those listed below to agree or disagree with. You can add any other topics you feel are appropriate for your student level or are appropriate to geographical or cultural location.
   Women should not work
   All time spent at school is useless
   Health and education should be paid for by the government
   Globalization is a good thing
   Democracy does not work
   Religion is beneficial for society
   Children should choose what they study at school
   The Internet should be banned
   
2. Get the students to write down 8-10 things they can say for or against the statement they have chosen.
3. Choose the best 6 arguments and list the points in order so that they follow each other and so that each point is stronger as the speech is delivered.
   
4. Add detail in note form to each of the 6 points, examples, statistics, personal experience.
   
5. Copy the points onto a piece of card or paper without letting the students write full sentences.
   You could get the students to write the speech up as an essay first with an introduction and conclusion if needed.
   
6. Get the students to deliver their speeches.
   
7. If there is time, as an extension activity you can allow a Question and Answer session after each speech which will help all students focus on listening when they are not speaking.
   

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Brainsorming

Main: Scattergories Brainstorms

Scattergories Brainstorms

Level : Any level
Lesson Aims : To practice listening and speaking, to revise class vocabulary
Activity Time : 20 - 30 minutes
Preparation Time : None
Resources : Whiteboard

Procedure

This is a variation on scattergories

1. Divide the class into three teams.
2. Think of as many categories as you think are appropriate (countries, food, colors, household Items, animals, languages, clothes, adverbs, etc.)
3. Write one category on the board and tell the students that they have two minutes to come up with as many words in each category as they can. Teams get a point for each word that they come up with. However, if more than one team writes down the same word (for example, two teams write down "red" under the category of colours) nobody gets a point.
4. Change the category on the board and start again. The team who scores the most points wins.
   

Using Reported Speech

The use of reported speech is especially important at higher English levels. Students, at this point, are fine tuning their communication skills to include expressing the ideas of others, as well as their own opinions. Students usually need to focus not only on the grammar involved, but also on production skills. Reported speech includes some rather tricky transformations that need to be practiced a number of times before students feel comfortable using them in every day conversations.

Aim:
Developing reported speech grammar and productions skills

Activity:
Introduction and written reporting activity, followed by spoken practice in the form of a questionnaire

Level:
Upper-intermediate

Outline:

• Introduce/review reported speech by making simple statements and asking students to report what you have said. Make sure to emphasize reporting in the past (i.e., "the teacher said", NOT "the teacher says")
• Provide review sheet of principle reported speech transitions (included in lesson printout pages)
• ·Have students get into pairs and convert the reported speech paragraph into the direct speech form.
• ·Correct worksheet as a class.
• Ask students to divide up into new pairs and ask each other questions from the questionnaire. Remind them to take notes on what their partners say.
• Have students divide into new pairs and ask them to report what they have learned about the other students to their new partner (i.e., John said he had lived in Breubach for two years).
• Follow-up with class conversation focusing on problematic tense transformations.
  

Reported Speech
Study the following chart carefully. Notice how reported speech is one step back into the past from direct speech.

Quoted Speech/Reported Speech

He said, "I live in Paris."
He said he lived in Paris.
He said, "I am cooking dinner."
He said he was cooking dinner.

Reported Speech - Indirect Speech

Indirect Speech (also referred to as 'reported speech') refers to a sentence reporting what someone has said. It is almost always used in spoken English.

If the reporting verb (i.e. said) is in the past, the reported clause will be in a past form. This form is usually one step back into the past from the original.
For example:
· He said the test was difficult.
· She said she watched TV every day.
· Jack said he came to school every day.

If simple present, present perfect or the future is used in the reporting verb (i.e. says) the tense is retained.
For example:

• He says the test is difficult.
• She has said that she watches TV every day.
• Jack will say that he comes to school every day.

If reporting a general truth the present tense will be retained.
For example:

• The teacher said that phrasal verbs are very important.
  Changing Pronouns and Time Signifiers
  When changing from direct speech to indirect speech, it is often necessary to change the pronouns to match the subject of the sentence.

For example:

• She said, "I want to bring my children." BECOMES She said she wanted to bring her children.
• Jack said, "My wife went with me to the show." BECOMES Jack said his wife had gone with him to the show.
  

It is also important to change time words (signifiers) when referring to present, past or future time to match the moment of speaking.
For example:

• She said, "I want to bring my children tomorrow." BECOMES She said she wanted to bring her children the next day.
• Jack said, "My wife went with me to the show yesterday." BECOMES Jack said his wife had gone with him to the show the day before.
• Indirect Questions
  When reporting questions, it is especially important to pay attention to sentence order. When reporting yes/ no questions connect the reported question using 'if'. When reporting questions using question words (why, where, when, etc.) use the question word.

For more examples:

1. She asked, "Do you want to come with me?" BECOMES She asked me if I wanted to come with her.
2. Dave asked, "Where did you go last weekend?" BECOMES Dave asked me where I had gone the previous weekend.

Advanced Reporting Verbs >>>> read next

Basic Prepositions:

Time and Place - == at, in, on and to

Read the story below:
I was born in Seattle, Washington on the 19th of April in 1961. Seattle is in the State of Washington in the United States. That was many years ago... Now, I live in Leghorn in Italy. I work at the British School. I sometimes go to a movie on the weekend. I meet my friends at the movie theater at 8 o'clock or later. In the summer, usually in August, I go home to visit my family in America. My family and I go to the beach and relax in the sun in the morning and in the afternoon! In the evening, we often eat at a restaurant with our friends. Sometimes, we go to a bar at night.
Look at the chart below: